Four firefighters were shot — two fatally — after apparently being lured to an early morning blaze on Monday in Webster, N.Y., a lakefront town about 12 miles northeast of Rochester, officials said.

The suspected assailant also died at the scene, the town’s police chief, Gerald L. Pickering said, though it was unclear if he was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot or by the authorities.

“It does appear that it was a trap that was set,” Chief Pickering said of the blaze that drew the firefighters. “Causative reasons, we don’t have at this time.”

One of the firefighters was “able to flee the scene on his own,” he added. “The other three were pinned down at the location.”

Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester said two firefighters were in “guarded condition.” The two others died at the scene, Chief Pickering said.

The firefighters were from the West Webster Fire Department, about four miles from the blaze, and were believed to be volunteers.

As he recited the names of those killed and wounded at a news conference on Monday morning, Chief Pickering repeatedly choked up. One of the deceased, Michael J. Chiapperini, was a police lieutenant in the Webster Police Department; the other, Tomasz Kaczowka, was a 911 dispatcher for Monroe County.

“These people get up in the middle of the night to go put out fires,” he said. “They don’t expect to be shot and killed.”

Dwain, I totally agree with you. The gun reform being discussed needs to be put in action ASAP. Yes, I will admit that I have heard far too many people in my life say things about what they would do if they had a gun and seen the horror too many trigger happy people have caused. Our 2nd amendment is not being questioned. The sanity of gun owners should be. All it takes is anger or frustration, often fed by legal RX pills and or illegal drug use and - a gun in the wrong hand - to make a terrorist.

rwbman007 wrote:Whattya know...the man was prohibited from having guns, but didn't obey the law and got them anyway. I bet if there was another law in the way, he would have decided against it.

See? This is exactly what I'm saying. If it was so easy for a registered felon to get his hands on weapons, then there are definitely too many guns on the streets.

Thanks for helping prove my point.

Haha. Nice try. He breaks the law, probably steals someone's guns, and you say it proves that there are too many guns? It proves that no matter what laws are enacted, people will find a way around them. So your claim that more regulations will help is inaccurate. Look at the firearm regulations in Chicago. How many deaths there this year related to firearms? Gun laws only prohibit the law abiding citizen from having them.

But more recently is study that proves that reducing access to guns results in fewer gun deaths.

Tough gun laws linked to fewer deaths

Connecticut has more restrictions on gun ownership than most states, so gun-rights advocates argue the Dec. 14 schoolhouse massacre there illustrates the futility of gun control.

But a new study by a San Francisco organization reaches the opposite conclusion: States with the most restrictive laws, including Connecticut and California, have lower rates of gun-related deaths, while states with few limits on firearms have the highest rates.

In 2009 and 2010, the most recent years for which information is available, California had the nation's strongest gun controls and the ninth-lowest rate of gun deaths, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which favors firearms regulation.

Connecticut had the fourth-strongest gun laws and was sixth-lowest in gun deaths, while Hawaii ranked fifth in gun control and had the lowest death rate.

At the other end of the scale, the report found that Alaska, Louisiana and Montana - all graded F for gun control - had the highest rates of deaths caused by gunfire, more than double California's rate. The law center graded all 50 states and gave an F, for weak regulation, to 24 of them.

In 2010, the report said, quoting the federal Centers for Disease Control, California had 7.88 gun deaths for each 100,000 residents, compared with rates of 3.31 in Hawaii and 20.28 in Alaska.

More research is needed on the links between specific weapons regulations and fatalities, but "the data supports the common-sense conclusion that gun laws are a significant factor in a state's rate of gun deaths," said the report.

Since the report's release last month, The Chronicle has forwarded it for comment to four pro-gun organizations: the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Gun Owners of America and its state affiliate, Gun Owners of California. None replied to calls or e-mails.

Similar StudiesOther recent studies have reached similar conclusions. A researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported in July that states requiring comprehensive background checks before gun purchases had lower death rates than those without such requirements. And Richard Florida, an economist and urban studies theorist at the University of Toronto, found lower death rates in 2011 for states that ban assault weapons and require trigger locks and secure storage for guns.

But as long as the federal government leaves gun regulations largely up to each state, the effectiveness of any state's laws is inherently limited, said Laura Cutiletta, an attorney at the law center that conducted the study.

California, for example, bans most semiautomatic rifles, including the Bushmaster .223 that Adam Lanza used to kill 20 students and six educators at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this month. But the rifles are legal in neighboring Nevada, and can be taken easily - though illegally - to California.

The Bushmaster is also legal in Connecticut, a circumstance that Cutiletta said illustrates the modest level of gun regulation even in states ranked high in the law center's survey.

While Connecticut is one of about 10 states with any restrictions on semiautomatic rifles, it prohibits them only if they have certain additional features, such as a pistol grip and a folding or collapsible stock.

The Bushmaster that Lanza reportedly used-a version of the widely sold AR-15 rifle - had been legally purchased by his mother, whom he killed before taking her guns and heading to the school.

A federal assault weapons law, in effect from 1994 to 2004, also banned semiautomatic weapons only if they had specific features. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sponsored that law after a gunman used assault weapons to kill eight people and then took his own life at 101 California St. in San Francisco.

Feinstein is proposing a more far-reaching national law in the wake of the Newtown bloodbath.

Although the federal law has been widely regarded as ineffectual, Cutiletta cited a 2004 study commissioned by President George W. Bush's Justice Department that found assault weapon use in gun crimes dropped by 17 to 72 percent in six cities during the decade. On the other hand, use of large-caliber ammunition magazines increased through the late 1990s, probably because the ban did not apply to weapons acquired before 1994, the study said.

California, by contrast, prohibits a long list of semiautomatic weapons, including the AR-15 and its variations, as well as magazines that carry more than 10 rounds.

Background checksThe state also requires background checks for all gun sales, including those at gun shows. In addition, the law allows only one handgun purchase per month, gives local law enforcement broad authority to deny concealed weapons permits, and requires micro-stamping on all bullets so they can be traced to the gun that fired them.

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, is proposing to further tighten the assault weapons law by banning semiautomatic weapons with magazines that can be replaced quickly by pushing a button. The Legislature rejected a similar measure earlier this year.

But no state goes as far as the nation of Australia, which responded to a 1996 mass shooting by not only outlawing sales of semiautomatic rifles but also requiring owners of the weapons to turn them in for a refund. Gun deaths have plunged, and Australia has experienced no more large-scale shootings.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — More than 200 Utah teachers are expected to pack a convention hall on Thursday for six hours of concealed-weapons training as organizers seek to arm more educators in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shooting.The Utah Shooting Sports Council said it normally gathers a dozen teachers every year for instruction that's required to legally carry a concealed weapon in public places. The state's leading gun lobby decided to offer teachers the training at no charge to encourage turnout, and it worked.

oak tree wrote:A bomb could easily be used as opposed to a knife or bat. And a bomb would cause more destruction than a gun.

Yeah. And bombs aren't legal either.

Look, I agree with all of your comments about societal contribution to mass killing, but it's also a numbers game. Math.

The US is the most armed nation on the planet.

In 2001 a handful of guys used box cutters to take over airplanes and killed 3000 American citizens. Now we can't take fingernail clippers on airplanes.

But every year more than 10 times that number die from gun violence and we don't do squat about it.

You gotta wonder why that is. At least I do, anyway.

Let's start right here. My first post.

I would ask you this question, indeed I am. Who is dieing in these reported gun deaths and who is doing the shooting in those circumstances. I think that if one did some serious research you would find that criminals killing criminals account for a large portion of gun deaths. I also think that if you factor in people who are killing criminals in self defense the picture would change in your eyes. The facts of the matter are that with the millions of gun owners in this country gun related deaths that aren't criminal against criminal or in self defense are far lower per capita than is painted by anti gun lobbies. Listen, the problems we have are not guns. It's criminals and that is what, as a society, needs to be addressed. We must address drug abuse across the boards. I believe it is the single biggest driving factor in both gang warfare and single handed crimes on our streets. We must strive as a nation to provide answers and real hope for the people who have none and instead turn to crack in order to feel good about themselves. We must address the mentally ill that are not getting treatment or any attention what so ever and we must also do a better job in ensuring gun owners are properly screened before purchasing guns but more importantly that they are educated and provided proper tools to keep not only their guns safe but the people who are going to be around them safe as well. Then! And only then can we as a nation lose our unfounded fear of a population that enjoys a constitutional right to protect life, liberty and property with firearms but that also enjoys the many shooting sports that are with us today.